Here' s a story I worked on for a women's weekly magazine all about a great-grandmother surrounded by the love of 95 relatives - quite a birthday card list.
It was a special experience to visit her in the home she had shared with some of her family for many years - even if the magazine did end up cutting it right down as it wasn't "juicy" enough. I mean it's not really up there with I squash for dosh, now is it?
See also: Other parents' stories, And baby makes 10 for family with two sets of quads
Oh boys how could you! I sighed before taking off my high-heeled shoes and running after my sons John and Vic.
They darted through our bungalow, worried sick because they’d never seen their mum lose her temper before.
‘Now you’re for it!’ I shouted. The little monkeys had let down the tyres on the Darby and Joan coach before it headed off to Blackpool from our street.
I was so cross – but it was funny to see all the old folks sitting there, waiting to move.
John and Vic were a handful sometimes but perhaps they felt they had to be to get my attention – they did have eight brothers and sisters after all.
Vic was the second eldest after Terry so he should’ve known better. Then came John.
I had twins next - Carol and Ann. “They’re so beautiful and so alike,” everyone told me after the girls were born. “You’ll never guess what,” I told Samuel just 10 months later.
He nearly fell off his chair when I told him Des was on his way.
Then came Bruce, Jane, Melvin and finally Sharon, the ‘baby’ of the family, who’s now 45.How we all squeezed in to the bungalow was a miracle. We only had three bedrooms.
We used to count the shoes under the kitchen table to make sure everyone was in. We never had a holiday and I did all my own sewing, knitting and baking to make ends meet.
I loved having such a big family – whenever anyone asks me why I did it – I tell them there wasn’t any telly in those days!
Everyone was here for me when I lost my beloved Samuel 21 years ago.
Over the years my patience was severely tested – but it’s the laughter that still makes it all worthwhile – and we still laugh about the Darby and Joan coach today.
Like all families there have been some tough times. I lost a little girl, Marilyn, when she was just seven months, in a cot death. It was much more common in those days.
I just had to carry on for the rest of my family.
Vic died when he was 59. Doctors diagnosed prostrate cancer and he had just 18 months after they told him.
Me and Vic’s family were so grateful for all the support then. There were so many flowers I wondered if the house was big enough to hold them all.
Now I’ve gained 39 grandchildren, and 45 great grandchildren.
Little Kyle, aged two is my first great-great grandchild and his mum Tasha, 23, has another on the way.
I’m never lonely. Most of us live within a couple of miles.
Round here people call me the ‘Godmother’.
“Get your glad rags on, Mum, we’re off out,” shouted my daughter Jane when I celebrated my 80th birthday. As a surprise, the family had clubbed together to hire out a local club.
It was a brilliant night.
My 85th was even better. “We want to give you what you could never afford because of us,” said John as we jetted out to Benidorm. I’ve been 18 years on the run with different members of the family.
On the night of my birthday, we went from bar to bar, everyone kept handing me bottles of champagne.
My daughter Jane tells me I’m the life and soul of any party.We certainly have plenty of them with 95 birthdays to celebrate. I’m so proud of my family. They all go out of their way to look after me.
We may have gone without lots of things but we were never short of love.
My family’s my life and soul.
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